Stead better than Stokes

A thrilled Neil Warnock last night insisted he would rather have Jonathan Stead in his team than Anthony Stokes - and he predicted the Wearside misfit could prove to be the best signing made during this month's transfer window.

A thrilled Neil Warnock last night insisted he would rather have Jonathan Stead in his team than Anthony Stokes - and he predicted the Wearside misfit could prove to be the best signing made during this month's transfer window.

The Sheffield United boss has invested at least #750,000 in a striker who has scored just 13 times in 104 first-team fixtures since leaving Huddersfield three years ago but, although few at the Stadium of Light have mourned his sale, Warnock believes he has engineered a considerable coup.

Sunderland could recoup all but #550,000 of the #1.8m Mick McCarthy paid to recruit Stead from Blackburn 18 months ago and, considering the 23-year-old's appalling record at the Stadium of Light, it is the Black Cats who appear to have pulled off a transfer market masterstroke.

Roy Keane this week signed Stokes, the Scottish Premier League's 14-goal leading scorer, who is regarded as one of domestic football's finest young talents. Yet it is Warnock who - somewhat bizarrely - believes he has done the superior deal.

"I cannot see how anyone would not want to buy Jonathan Stead for the kind of money we have paid," said the Blades boss, who will have to part with a further #500,000 should his team avoid relegation from the Premiership. "Sunderland have paid #2m for Stokes but I would rather have Jonathan and to get him at this price was too good to turn down.

"He wasn't on my list of targets until the start of last week - I couldn't believe what Sunderland were doing. There will be critics but I think this is a great signing. Jonathan can become the best value-for-money buy of the transfer window."

Warnock's words will not concern Keane who, having taken charge at the Stadium of Light last August, did not pick the former England Under-21 international for a single game, having made an instant judgement on the former Huddersfield favourite.

There will be few outside Bramall Lane who will agree with the outspoken Yorkshireman on the subject of Stead, a player who admitted his spell in the North-East had been short of highlights last night.

"There aren't many positives to come out of the last 18 months but now is the time to put that to bed and look forward to what I hope will be a good career here," he said. "I admit there have been hard times but the plus sides of being a footballer far outweigh the down times, so I'm not complaining.

"I have grown up a lot and I'm aware of life. You have to believe, because doubts can creep in. You just have to turn it around and the quicker you do that then the better you feel, which is why I have learned to shake off the criticism.

"Any time you are not doing well, there's always going to be somebody ready to criticise you. That's part and parcel, but every footballer knows you have to take it and learn from it. I have no problem with people criticising me because I'm my own worst critic."

Warnock last night insisted Stead can prove his critics wrong but the striker knows he will need a dramatic change in fortune if he is to succeed in the Premiership. He added: "From Huddersfield, I went to the dizzy heights quite quickly, and I know it has since tailed off for me.

"I have had half a good season in the Premier League. I'm under no illusions because there have been some disappointing times following that. I have had a couple of seasons taking backwards steps. But I'm hungry and this is the time for me to show that. I want to progress and get back to the form I was in a couple of years ago."

Stead, who has signed a three-and-a-half year contract at Bramall Lane, was not the sole striker to leave Sunderland yesterday. Chris Brown has completed his #325,000 move to Norwich, signing a contract until 2009 to bring to an end a long association with the Wearside club.

"I'm delighted to be coming to such a good club with an ambitious manager," said Brown, who has agreed to move to Carrow Road following talks with Peter Grant. "It's a great platform for me and I will do my utmost to get Norwich promoted to the Premier League."

* BIRMINGHAM have signed Luton striker Rowan Vine for an undisclosed fee - believed to be around #3m

The 24-year-old, who was also a target for West Brom, has agreed a three-and-a-half-year contract which will keep him at St Andrews until the summer of 2010.

But Vine may have to wait for his debut as the state of the relaid St. Andrews pitch means the home Coca Cola Championship game with Leeds tomorrow is almost certain to be postponed.

Vine became Blues boss Steve Bruce's first signing during the January transfer window after successfully passing a medical yesterday afternoon afternoon.

"I'm absolutely delighted. I see it as a massive compliment that a team like Birmingham, who are top of the league, wanted to sign me and I couldn't have asked for much more really," Vine said.

"I knew of the interest from West Brom and Cardiff and a couple of others but I just concentrated on playing until I got the nod.

"I had two and a half brilliant years at Luton and I made a lot of friends but the pros of leaving really outweigh the cons.

"Hopefully for me it's about being able to achieve what I want to do which is play at the top level, so it's a massive opportunity for me.

"I'm confident in my own ability and I've done well this year. Hopefully I can come into a squad, which obviously has a lot of quality, and try to give the team something else.

"To be fair Steve Bruce didn't have to really convince me that much. This was the move I wanted."